5 dead, 2 hurt in Batangas road mishap

The truck slipped through, pushing the Starex van until it fell into the ravine on the left shoulder of the road and smashed onto an approaching jeepney.
(Photo: Eugene Alvin Villar/ Wikipedia)

NASUGBU, Batangas— Five persons were killed and two others were injured in a vehicular accident in Sitio Bayabasan, Barangay Aga, Nasugbu, Batangas, Tuesday afternoon.

Police Senior Inspector Joel Bunquin Ilagan, Nasugbu deputy chief of pólice, said a Hyundai Starex van with plate number UOU 631 was on its way to Nasugbu when it collided with an 18-wheeler trailer truck owned by JC Movers.

The truck, which was driven by 56-year-old Gerardo San Pedro Tiongson, was bound for Calaca, Batangas from Cavite.

Tiongson reportedly lost control of the brakes due to the slippery road caused by moderate rains.

Police investigation showed the trailer truck tilted and tumbled as it descended through the slope portion of the road and collided head-on with the Starex van that was traversing the opposite direction.

The truck slipped through, pushing the Starex van until it fell into the ravine on the left shoulder of the road and smashed onto an approaching jeepney.

The rear portion of the trailer truck also hit the passenger-type jeepney owned and driven by Giovanni Pilac Bulaclac, 21, of Sitio Bayabasan, Barangay Aga, Nasugbu, Batangas.

Investigators said all passengers aboard the van were killed including the driver identified as Oscar Daulong Dela Cruz, 46, of Martha Subdivision, Marilao, Bulacan.

The other fatalities were Hermelinda Mesias Corsiga, 47, helper from Valle Verde 4, Barangay Ugong Pasig City; Maria Angela Benares, 40, and her father, the van owner, Benjamin Jalandoni, 71 years old.

Another female victim identified only as “Daday” who was brought to the Apacible Memorial District Hospital, died later while being treated.

The driver of the passenger jeepney was unharmed while the truck trailer driver sustained injuries in different parts of his body and is now under hospital arrest at the Apacible Memorial District Hospital.